Eight o’clock. And no Lucas Glover.
Eight-fifteen. And no Lucas Glover.
Eight-twenty-five.
Where’s Lucas Glover?
That was approximately the scene Thursday at TPC Scottsdale. Lucas Glover, your 2009 U.S. Open winner, was to start play at the Waste Management Phoenix Open at 8:26 a.m. local time off tee No. 1, only that was apparently news to Glover. But he had a story.
According to Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard, Glover said he got a call from an official around 8:25 letting him know of his plight. He had never missed a Tour tee time before, according to Hoggard. But Glover then came clean.
“I just mis-read my text messages [that listed my tee time],” Glover told Hoggard. “I’m kicking myself but laughing at myself at the same time.”
There’s some good news, though.
Glover withdrew. He didn’t have to. He also could have not answered the phone. But he did. So Ryo Hisatsune was in in his place.
It’s here where you may have some questions, like:
— Is there a rule that covers missed tee times?
Yes. For your friends foursome, you get some words. For an event such as the Phoenix Open, you may get one — disqualification. Rule 5.3 reads this way:
“You must start at (and not before or after) your starting time. Penalty for Breach of Rule 5.3a: Disqualification.”
Notably, there are exceptions. They read this way:
“Exception 1 – You Arrive at Starting Point, Ready to Play, No More Than Five Minutes Late: The general penalty is applied to your first hole. Exception 2 – You Start No More Than Five Minutes Early: The general penalty is applied to your first hole. Exception 3 – Committee Decides that Exceptional Circumstances Prevented You from Starting on Time: There is no breach of this Rule and no penalty.”
— Has it happened before?
Yes, mistakes happen.
On a quick scan, a similar occurrence happened at the 2021 U.S. Senior Open, where Marcus Meloan didn’t return after a three-hour storm delay, and Rule 5.3 was applied. On the Golf Channel broadcast at the time, USGA rules official Ben Schade said this:
“Following that restart, we did have a player that was late to resume,” Schade said on the Golf Channel broadcast. “So resumption times, they work very much the same as a starting time that we would have at the beginning of our round where we need to be ready to play within five minutes of that time, no later than five minutes of that time, to avoid disqualification.
“If we’re within that five-minute time, we would get a two-stroke penalty, and he can play on. So in Marcus’ case, he was not ready to play within that five-minute window of his resumption time, so he was disqualified from the competition.”
